Live Review: The Kite String Tangle, Flamingo, Lucianblomkamp

We sprint through the doors to catch the last moments of Lucianblomkamp’s set.

It’s the final song and Rosebud Leach, who features on You & Me, is up on stage. There’s wonderful balance between the fragility of Leach’s live vocals and his heavier, layered production skills. We kick ourselves for not getting here sooner to see this exceptional up-and-comer and won’t make that mistake again.

Adelaide three-piece Flamingo are a joy to watch. Kacee Heidt is an engaging young frontman who’s not afraid of a bit of good-humoured banter and has a warbling vocal style very similar to Eskimo Joe frontman Kavyen Temperley.

The Adelaide three-piece’s indie-electronic sound is upbeat and wonderfully percussive, but we’re more interested in watching them do their thing than starting a riot on the dancefloor. Highlights of Flamingo’s set include Heavy Steps and their smashing cover of Foals’ Spanish Sahara.

When it’s The Kite String Tangle (aka Danny Harley)’s turn to take the stage he calls to mind a scientist in his laboratory, tweaking this and hitting that. His set-up sees him quite far away from the crowd, but he still manages to draw us in with his soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics.

Words is a lovely way to ease into his technically flawless, electronic set. Harley asks if we’re a bit hungover before admitting he’s in the same boat, with red wine his hair-of-the-dog drink of choice. He’s happy to be playing in front of a mellow crowd tonight, but certainly aims to stir us into action with the light show that kicks off with What If.

While most of the crowd is keen to hear tracks of The Kite String Tangle’s debut EP Vessel, Harley also performs a couple of songs not featured on the EP. He introduces Commotion as the first song he wrote for The Kite String Tangle and it’s clear he has put a lot of passion into this project since day one. Harley also performs his cover of Flight Facilities’ Clair De Lune, which is equal parts ethereal and glitchy, and overall a brilliant cover.

Things don’t really ramp up until the final three songs. Tiana Khasi joins Harley on stage for Stone Cold and Harley endearingly calls her “Australia’s Beyoncé”. Their collaboration is upbeat and effortless. Harley then proceeds to ram it home with undoubtedly his two biggest tracks: Arcadia is Harley’s most robust performance for the evening and Given The Chance has the crowd singing along for his final song of the night.

A confetti cannon goes off during the last chorus and Harley ends his set on a euphoric note.